PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
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AMERICAN GAY AND LESBIAN ATHEISTS, INC.
P O Box 66711
Houston, TX 77266-6711
Dial-A-Gay-Atheist: 713-880-4242
AGLA CALLS UPON IRS
TO MONITOR CHURCHES FOR POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT
For Immediate Release
Saturday, October 29, 1994
Contact: Don Sanders, National Director
Houston, TX -- As the political season reaches "high gear," the
national office of American Gay and Lesbian Atheist is busily
watching the degree to which churches and religious organizations
in the Houston area are involving themselves in partisan
politics. American Gay Atheists, Inc. is a non-profit, 501(c)(3)
educational foundation which does not violate the tenets of the
IRS codes which prohibit direct involvement in partisan politics
by non-profit groups.
American Gay and Lesbian Atheists has been instrumental in
having the Dallas office of the Internal Revenue Service maintain
an open file (File 4940 Dal) on Houston area churches and
religious groups which involve themselves in the political
process, such as endorsing candidates for public office. During
the 1993 elections, AGLA documented numerous cases of direct
political involvement by Houston churches, particularly in the
races of Sheila Jackson Lee, who was backed heavily by numerous
Black ministerial alliances. In some cases, the political
involvement of churches was so blatant that some churches placed
campaign signs on their properties.
"Such political involvement by churches is harmful to basic
freedoms and civil rights of many, particularly gays and
lesbians," says Don Sanders, national director. "The strongest
opposition to equality of rights for gays and lesbians comes from
the churches and the Christian scriptures. Many ministers
bastardize the non-profit status accorded them under the rules of
the Internal Revenue Service by directly instructing their
congregations for whom to vote and how to vote on key issues,
such as abortion rights, women's rights, and rights for gays and
lesbians." Sanders points out that efforts to stop churches from
influencing politics have proven ineffective. "However," Sanders
says, "if the politically-meddling churches suddenly were
threatened with loss of their privileged tax status accorded them
under the directives of the Internal Revenue Service, much direct
partisan political involvement on the part of churches would
cease."
During this political season, AGLA is carefully monitoring
the antics of the so-called Religious Right and the support of
their candidates by churches. "If the churches will not abide by
the law which prohibits them from endorsing candidates,
instructing their congregants for whom to vote, or funding
political campaigns, we hope that our efforts to encourage the
IRS to look into these matters by giving them documentation on
this obvious abuse and illegal activity will help prove to the
churches, once and for all, they should get out of the political
game, or lose their tax exemption," says Sanders.
For further comments or questions, contact Don Sanders.
American Gay and Lesbian Atheists promotes Thomas Jefferson's
constitutional premise of separation between state and church,
and works to protect and promote the civil and human rights of
persons who are Atheists and gay.
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